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Goulet Still A Big Draw On Live-theater Circuit

October 04, 1996|By Chris Jones. Special to the Tribune.

As Robert Goulet hopped down from his dressing-room tub in Vienna, Va., the other week before performing the role of Don Quixote in his current tour of "The Man of La Mancha," the rug slipped out from under him.

"I went on that night but the high notes came out strangely," Goulet, 62, remembers. "I could see the audience nudging each other and saying, `He's getting old. His voice is going.' "

"I cracked two ribs and one record that week."

The bones have mended and the notes are back in their signature shape, but the record is still smashed: "Man of La Mancha" grossed more than $1 million in a single week at the Wolf Trap theater, becoming the best-selling musical in that venue's history. Goulet brings "La Mancha" to the Rosemont Theatre this week.

As he has proved over the past few years by hawking long-touring revivals of "South Pacific," "Camelot" and "The Fantasticks," no one sells tickets on the road like the handsome baritone who shot to fame in 1960 as Broadway's first Sir Lancelot.

Where does he find the energy to run around the country warbling romantic standards such as "The Impossible Dream" when he could be making movies or floating on his yacht somewhere?

"The live theater gives me the chance to do meaningful work," says Goulet, who has been talking a lot recently about his battle with prostate cancer. "I'm a basket case when I'm not working. When people stand up and applaud, it makes all the effort worthwhile."

Theatrical commitment coupled with box-office cache gives Goulet big appeal for writers of new work. Leslie Bricusse is composing a musical about Henry VIII; Goulet is already looking forward to playing the starring monarch -- in theaters all across the country.